DRINKING WATER TREATMENT PLANT, PUMPING STATIONS, AND WATER STORAGE FACILITIES
 In spring of this year the Department of Environmental Protection honored the North Andover Water Department for “it’s outstanding performance and achievement to have placed among the top five percent (5%) of public water systems in the state”. This award recognized “the effort and dedication by the Water Department to meet the ever evolving federal and state requirements, and the fact that the system also conducted many non-regulatory activities to help promote quality drinking water. It is the Department’s belief that this public water system went above and beyond what is required to supply quality drinking water and should be recognized for their endeavors. ” The Water Treatment Plant also received an award for the fourteenth year in a row from the Massachusetts Dental
Society for “excellence in maintaining optimal community water fluoridation as a recognized scientific public health measure in the prevention of dental decay.”
The Water Department also nominated Victoria Stripling, a teacher and resident at Brooks School, for the Environmental Educator of the Year award. Ms. Stripling has worked with the employees at the Water Treatment Plant for several years educating her students on the importance of protecting the watershed and the lake. She was among only a handful of teachers who received this honor. We were very proud of her acceptance by the state for this prestigious award.
In June the Water Treatment Plant sent out approximately 11,700 educational water quality reports to all residents of North Andover. The purpose of these brochures is to keep the public informed and educated about such subjects as the water treatment process, analytical test results, lead in drinking water, source water protection, water conservation, and contamination from cross-connections. Educational tours were also given throughout the year to school age children to aim this knowledge at a younger audience.
Also this year copper sulfate was added to the lake as a control technique for algae. The levels of algae are carefully watched, especially in the summer, as this can cause problems with filtration, which would increase the cost of treatment.
This year all Water Treatment Personnel were trained/retrained in CPR and First Aid so that they might be able to respond to an emergency situation within the plant especially due to the large amount of chemicals and high voltage electricity that is part of their daily lives. This is just one example of on going training that all water treatment personnel go through each year to keep them abreast of the latest methods for safety or technology in the water treatment field. All operators also fulfilled all required educational requirements needed to maintain their licenses in the water treatment field.
The Town purchased 2.16 acres of property surrounding the Drinking Water Treatment to protect the water supply from development and improve security.
Throughout this fiscal year many repairs and improvements were made within the DWTP, Booster Pump Stations (BPS) and Storage Tanks. The DWTP machinery, piping and equipment, now 14 years old, are showing signs of age, which demands greater attention and maintenance. Improvements were made to security systems, communication relating operation from outside stations to the DWTP control room, water sampling stations and fire alarm systems.
A section of the finished water discharge pipe, within the DWTP facility, had to be replaced due to a localized corrosion problem. This work was performed successfully after hours so not to disturb the normal everyday operations. A flood alarm was installed within the finished water pump room to monitor that area and notify operations in the event of future pipe leaks occurring.
Professional outside vendors repaired minor leaks within the floating plastic covers on top of Bear Hill and Sutton Hill storage tanks. Jungle like concentration of poison ivy surrounding the Sutton Hill storage tanks was removed and disposed of at the Cyr Recycling Center. We changed the granular activated carbon and sand in filters 6-7-8. These three carbon filters cleaned a total amount of 1.718 billion gallons of water for a new record high for filtration at our facility.
Began monitoring levels of the Sutton Hill and Bear Hill storage tanks to determine if they were leaking. Bear Hill tanks were found to be sound while Sutton Hill tanks were determined leaking roughly 32,000 gallons per day. This ignited action to replace these tanks with new ones, as well as the redesign and proposal for new, secure and reliable tanks at Bear Hill.
A better sound enclosure was installed over the emergency power generator at Foxwoods BPS to reduce the noise to the surrounding neighborhood coming this unit. Additional residual chlorine analyzers were installed to the DWTP Clearwell and the Bear Hill Storage Tanks to monitor more so closely the disinfect ion of water within these areas. A new, cost effective deionizing unit, which produces pure water, was installed in the DWTP lab for quality control and lab testing.
Backup controls were installed at the Sutton Hill BPS to allow us to continue to operate that station in the event of loss of automation. One of the ozone generators was shutdown for preventative maintenance. One half of the 104 glass electrodes, which form ozone gas under pressure and high voltage, were found to be worn out and so replaced with new glass. A power monitor was installed and connected to the control PC to record incoming electrical activity and power surges.
Months Million Gallons (MG) Finished Water Pumped
July 2004 120.0416
August 114.7355
September 96.1005
October 79.4583
November 72.1235
December 2004 75.3070
January 2005 76.7613
February 69.6159
March 74.9752
April 74.4639
May 82.1670
June 05 109.6153
TOTAL 1045.3650
Average daily consumption 2.8640 MG per day
Max day pumping, Aug 2, 2004 5.0361 MG
Largest pumping week: July 1 – 7, 2004 30.6082 MG’s
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